Halloween Ends
review by Bobby Blakey
There are a handful of iconic on screen killers with Michael Myers easily being at the top of the list. After his debut in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic it not only spawned a slew of sequels and remakes, but kick started the slasher genre as we know it. In 2018 Danny McBride and David Gordon Green teamed up to deliver a new entry to the franchise that brought back franchise star Jamie Lee Curtis and continued with Halloween Kills in 2021. Now Curtis is reteaming once again with Green and McBride for the final chapter Halloween Kills co-starring Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell, Will Patton, Kyle Richards and James Jude Courtney as The Shape. Will this final chapter of the current story deliver or will it not be an ending worth killing for?
Halloween Ends follows four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham, is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.
I admit that I am a fan of the entire franchise and love every movie even though I know that some of them are pure trash. I just love watching Myers wreak havoc so sometimes I am willing to let the rest of the film blow. Green’s first two films were divisive with fans, but I really dug them and not just in a so bad they are good capacity. I enjoyed the direction and how they handled the new direction so was really stoked for this final outing.
Interesting enough this last film isn’t anything like I was expecting in a good way although not all of it worked for me.
This film takes a while to get to the usual Myers chaos and instead first sets up the arc with the new addition Corey played by Rohan Campbell. Once passed his introduction the film shifts focus to the aftermath and new life of not only Strode and her granddaughter, but also the rest of the town. I found it in an interesting approach to dealing with varying issues of anger, loss, acceptance and everything in between as it seems like things are finally safe. This leans into the Corey story as well that while a bit convenient kind of gives us the birth of new evil.
There is a different use of Myers who makes no mistake is here and gets to do his thing, but not in the way you may think for a lot of the movie. Where the first two films are pretty grounded in a more reality based-ish tone here we get into more of the pure evil almost supernatural element. This isn’t anything new to the franchise, but is handled in a little more subtle way, but admit that wasn’t the direction I was hoping for. That kind of made it more interesting for me keeping it fresh, but also felt a little too easy to fall back on.
In Halloween Kills, Strode does bring to the forefront the pure evil approach and his rise to fight back in the final moments showcases he is more than just a man, but I wasn’t expecting it to go beyond that. Thankfully they don’t push it too much into the supernatural so it does still work. The visual and music to the film are great as always and when we get to the killing it is fun per usual. I honestly didn’t find this one to be near as brutal as the last one which kind of disappointed me, but that’s just because I love the chaos of it all. For those disappointed by the lack of a face off in the previous film between Myers and Strode have no fear you get it this time around and it is a blast. Sure I wish they had pushed the boundaries on it more and lasted longer, but it still gave me the satisfaction I wanted.
The final moments of the film do a cool job to create a closure to not only the story of Strode and Myers, but for the town of Haddonfield and its 40+ years of suffering. It surely lives up to its title and I think a much better send off for Curtis and her legacy than that of her fate in Halloween: Resurrection. In the end the film went in a direction I didn’t expect and nothing like I wanted, but I still enjoyed it and felt it did its job to live up to its title and wrap it all up. At least until someone decides to reboot/reimagine the franchise once again.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including deleted & extended scenes, commentary, a gag reel, featurettes and so much more. Grab your copy of Halloween Ends availavble now on digital, 4K, Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Home Entertainment.
